Yes I suppose too many candidates in a riding would have the potential to dilute the vote. Generally though there are only three or four candidates in any particular riding. You vote for the candidate (or party) you want for your area. Then the party that has the most candidates across the country is in power. That said, there is always the potential for a minority government, where one party has the most seats, but the other two parties combined have more seats.

I tend to prefer when there's a minority government because it keeps the BS to a minimum. It requires cooperation from two parties to get bills passed etc. However our current PM prorogued parliament to prevent the other parties from voting against his party. Basically a crap maneuver in politics to make everything stop for a period of time.

Raffi - yes Raffi, the famous Canadian children's entertainer who wrote Baby Beluga - has written a little ditty called "I Want My Canada Back"
Last election, he was just encouraging young people to get out & vote. This time, he's basically saying Harper sucks, and please go vote him out.

Stephen Harper & the Conservative Party are now the only major federal party who have opted to *not* participate in the only debate on women's issues this election.
The NDP, Liberals, Greens and Bloc Québecois are all participating.

And it is not like this is a piddling debate - it is being hosted jointly by Oxfam Canada and the Alliance for Women's Rights, both of which are large organizations.

They (Conservative Party) have shown lack of regard to women's rights all along so this isn't surprising. Harper's total disregard for the missing indigenous women saying to Mansbridge that it isn't high on his (their) radar... This is just one of many things the Cons have done to limit women's rights. I don't have time to list them all, but you can google it if you choose.

I am really scared/excited about what's going to happen in this election.

I agree, piggypie. I'm not surprised.
I work in the not-for-profit sector, so I've seen a lot of the terrible crap they've done there too. It wasn't all pulling funding from anti-oil-pipeline environmental groups. Quite a few developmental organizations that do women's health lost their funding or were/are undergoing more stringent than usual CRA audits too.

There's a new pool of voters for this election. The ABC voter. They're going to vote for Anyone But Conservative, they're looking to determine who is the best candidate to defeat the Con in their riding regardless of what party earns the most seats.

That pretty much sums up my voting strategy for this election. Though I would like to vote Green or NDP because of their promise of getting rid of first past the post. Alas, no more Harper is higher on my wish list. The Wheat Board sale was another straw that broke this camel's back.

The wheat board thing was nasty.
I know a lot of people who are following the 'anyone but Harper' thing.
Luckily for me, the riding I'm in has a very well liked NDP returning rep, so it was how I would vote anyway.